Best High Chairs of 2023

All these chairs will keep your baby safe and help make mealtime easier for you. For more advice on choosing a high chair, see our detailed high chair buying guide.

There are a number of things to consider when shopping for a high chair—just take a look at our high chair buying guide. Safety features like a passive crotch restraint and a five-point harness are a must, and all our picks above have these features. (All of them, with the exception of the Bugaboo, use harnesses that convert from a five-point to a three-point. The Bugaboo has a regular five-point harness. The two extra points of the harness are the shoulder straps.)

Beyond these, Joan Muratore, who oversees Consumer Reports’ high chair testing, says there are three key things new parents should keep in mind.

1. Look for models with a dishwasher-safe tray insert (it covers the main tray) or a removable tray. The tray should also be free of sectioning or molding, which leaves seams where food debris and germs can collect.
2. Think about the available space in your kitchen or dining room. If your kitchen, like mine, is cramped, consider a high chair that folds compactly for easier storage when it’s not being used.
3. Consider a model without a seat pad if you want a chair that’s super-easy to clean. “A chair without a seat pad can seem stark or too cold for your baby, but it really is easiest to clean,” Muratore says. “If you prefer a chair with a seat pad, look for a pad without piping, ruffles, etc. that can collect food mess. A smooth, wipe-clean pad is good, and a machine-washable pad is better.” Based on my personal experience, you might find yourself wishing you had skipped the seat pad after your baby’s first spaghetti dinner.

Muratore’s team conducts tests on high chairs for three key attributes: safety, ease of cleaning, and ease of use. Our safety tests are based on the same standards used by the federal government and include evaluations of the restraint system and the chair’s stability, as well as static load assessments to make sure the chair can hold more than its stated weight capacity without sagging or collapsing.

For ease of use, our testers evaluate how easy it is to adjust the harness, fold and unfold the chair, remove and replace the seat cover, adjust the seat back (if it reclines), and remove and replace the food tray or tray cover. For ease of cleaning, Muratore’s team evaluates how easy or difficult the chair is to clean by looking at all its parts, including the materials it’s made of, the design of the food tray, the frame of the chair, whether it has a machine-washable seat pad (or no seat pad at all), how the seat pad is configured in the chair, and more.